Possible replacement players?Will AHLers be part of it?

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RangerBoy

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Lets say the NHL decides to go in the replacement player direction,will the individual teams force their players under NHL/AHL contracts to participate in replacement hockey?If the NHL starts play in October and the AHL players are part of the roster,will they refuse to participate in replacement hockey?Can they refuse the assignment?Are they not going to report to training camp?

Will the Jason LaBarbera's of the AHL with two way contracts be part of replacement hockey?

Will the prospects under a two way deal be part of replacement hockey?

As far as the problem with acquiring visas for replacement players,those players with American or Canadian passports do not require a visa to play in their own country.How many American and Canadian players play in Europe during a normal NHL season?Why can't those players be replacement players?When the lockout ends,the replacement players are free to go to Europe to replace the NHLers who have agreed to play in Europe during the lockout.Another group of players are the American and Canadian players who have played college hockey for an American or Canadian university/college in the recent past few seasons and are not playing any professional hockey.The NHL does not need to worry about replacement players from Europe being denied visas because there are enough North American players for replacement hockey.Every year,there are many undrafted college players looking to hook on with an NHL team.As an incentive,the NHL could pay good money for players to be replacement players

Of course,there will be NHLers crossing the line and reporting to camp.Paging Mike Modano

The NHLPA can see their union broken up or they can play ball with the NHL
 

Lil' Jimmy Norton*

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RangerBoy said:
Lets say the NHL decides to go in the replacement player direction,will the individual teams force their players under NHL/AHL contracts to participate in replacement hockey?If the NHL starts play in October and the AHL players are part of the roster,will they refuse to participate in replacement hockey?Can they refuse the assignment?Are they not going to report to training camp?

Will the Jason LaBarbera's of the AHL with two way contracts be part of replacement hockey?

Will the prospects under a two way deal be part of replacement hockey?

As far as the problem with acquiring visas for replacement players,those players with American or Canadian passports do not require a visa to play in their own country.How many American and Canadian players play in Europe during a normal NHL season?Why can't those players be replacement players?When the lockout ends,the replacement players are free to go to Europe to replace the NHLers who have agreed to play in Europe during the lockout.Another group of players are the American and Canadian players who have played college hockey for an American or Canadian university/college in the recent past few seasons and are not playing any professional hockey.The NHL does not need to worry about replacement players from Europe being denied visas because there are enough North American players for replacement hockey.Every year,there are many undrafted college players looking to hook on with an NHL team.As an incentive,the NHL could pay good money for players to be replacement players

Of course,there will be NHLers crossing the line and reporting to camp.Paging Mike Modano

The NHLPA can see their union broken up or they can play ball with the NHL

Last week 18 of the 22 Edmonton Roadrunners (AHL) said they would cross and go to NHL camps, remember these guys make anywhere from 50-90 K a year so you give them 250k and they'll be laughing. The work permit/visa issue is a cakewalk and very small hurdle to overcome. You'll see the NHL teams hire a specialist to handle this if they haven't already done so.
 

DuklaNation

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Why wouldn't they? This may be the biggest break of their careers, especially the older players.
 

Mountain Dude

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Of course they will, they'll jump at the opportunity.

Add that on to the fact that they'll be players probably coming from Europe, and of course players from Junior ranks, it'll be damn good hockey. In 3-4 years it'll be right where it was in 2003-2004, or better.
 

CGG

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I want someone out there to actually name the 20 best players who fit the requirements for a replacement player for a US-based team. These players must:

(1) be an American citizen, i.e. born in the US
(2) not be under contract with an NHL team currently (also can't be an RFA or recent UFA, as they would still be part of the union)

You simply cannot have foreigners act as replacements. If an AHL player really wants to cross a picket line for a US-based team, he can, but only if he is American. And the few Americans in the AHL would have to think long and hard about being in the first wave of scabe. If they have a future in a normal NHL (i.e. Zach Parise, etc) they would definitely have to think twice about joining a scab league, for fear of future ramifications.

At the very start at least, you will not have any NHLPA players wanting to cross. That leaves 24 US teams dredging the bottom of the barrel for American replacement players. And that's assuming the mountain of legal problems dealing with impasse are somehow cleared. How anyone can be looking forward to this scenario is beyond me.
 

CGG

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Chuck Shick said:
Last week 18 of the 22 Edmonton Roadrunners (AHL) said they would cross and go to NHL camps, remember these guys make anywhere from 50-90 K a year so you give them 250k and they'll be laughing. The work permit/visa issue is a cakewalk and very small hurdle to overcome. You'll see the NHL teams hire a specialist to handle this if they haven't already done so.

I see, so there's specialists out there that can help NHL teams clearly and knowingly break all know immigration laws? Huh? Kinda makes you wonder why all companies don't lock out their employees and bring in cheap Mexican labor as replacements, I mean if NHL teams have these so called experts lined up you'd think GM could hire a few.
 

CGG

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Mountain Dude said:
Of course they will, they'll jump at the opportunity.

Add that on to the fact that they'll be players probably coming from Europe, and of course players from Junior ranks, it'll be damn good hockey. In 3-4 years it'll be right where it was in 2003-2004, or better.

:banghead: :banghead:

Honestly, since when are Europeans and Canadian Juniors all of a sudden American citizens who can work as replacement workers under US immigration law?
 

Gee Wally

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gc2005 said:
I want someone out there to actually name the 20 best players who fit the requirements for a replacement player for a US-based team. These players must:

(1) be an American citizen, i.e. born in the US
(2) not be under contract with an NHL team currently (also can't be an RFA or recent UFA, as they would still be part of the union)

You simply cannot have foreigners act as replacements. If an AHL player really wants to cross a picket line for a US-based team, he can, but only if he is American. And the few Americans in the AHL would have to think long and hard about being in the first wave of scabe. If they have a future in a normal NHL (i.e. Zach Parise, etc) they would definitely have to think twice about joining a scab league, for fear of future ramifications.

At the very start at least, you will not have any NHLPA players wanting to cross. That leaves 24 US teams dredging the bottom of the barrel for American replacement players. And that's assuming the mountain of legal problems dealing with impasse are somehow cleared. How anyone can be looking forward to this scenario is beyond me.


while it's true that a player simply can't show -up...absolutely..

but getting a visa or working papers isn't an impossibility..also don't forget any population that may have an American wife or child ...

You may see a whole lot of weddings this summer.
 

Mountain Dude

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gc2005 said:
:banghead: :banghead:

Honestly, since when are Europeans and Canadian Juniors all of a sudden American citizens who can work as replacement workers under US immigration law?

I'm sure the lawyers working for the NHL making millions of dollars a year will be able to get passed that problem rather quickly.
 

CGG

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Gee Wally said:
while it's true that a player simply can't show -up...absolutely..

but getting a visa or working papers isn't an impossibility..also don't forget any population that may have an American wife or child ...

You may see a whole lot of weddings this summer.

Interesting idea, I think it would be funny to see aspiring Canadian hockey players get hitched to Americans in a bid to play for a US team. However, even that has problems. Getting married doesn't allow you to work in the US instantly, it takes a few months. And until you get full-fledged citizenship, you're not allowed to re-enter the US, so road trips to Canada would kinda suck.
 

CGG

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Mountain Dude said:
I'm sure the lawyers working for the NHL making millions of dollars a year will be able to get passed that problem rather quickly.

I forgot, laws don't apply to rich owners of sports teams. :shakehead The only way to circumvent this is to invent your own country and get all the NHL teams to relocate their cities to Utopialand. Or get enough people elected to the house and senate to change the existing laws. Good luck with that.
 

Lil' Jimmy Norton*

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gc2005 said:
I see, so there's specialists out there that can help NHL teams clearly and knowingly break all know immigration laws? Huh? Kinda makes you wonder why all companies don't lock out their employees and bring in cheap Mexican labor as replacements, I mean if NHL teams have these so called experts lined up you'd think GM could hire a few.

Absolutely, remember also of the entire workforce in the US only 13% of them are still unionized. I did all my own immigration ppwk when I relocated to the US from Canada it was a piece of cake.
 

Gee Wally

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gc2005 said:
Interesting idea, I think it would be funny to see aspiring Canadian hockey players get hitched to Americans in a bid to play for a US team. However, even that has problems. Getting married doesn't allow you to work in the US instantly, it takes a few months. And until you get full-fledged citizenship, you're not allowed to re-enter the US, so road trips to Canada would kinda suck.

I understand the logistics , believe me.

I have earlier in my career been in a situation where I had to replace workers...and where my post was mostly tongue in cheek...I did want to bring attention to that regardless of the laws..it really isn't that hard...especially when somebody has say 6 months or so to plan for it.
 

Mountain Dude

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gc2005 said:
I forgot, laws don't apply to rich owners of sports teams. :shakehead The only way to circumvent this is to invent your own country and get all the NHL teams to relocate their cities to Utopialand. Or get enough people elected to the house and senate to change the existing laws. Good luck with that.

Cool, where did you get your international law degree from, and where have you been practicing?
 

X8oD

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gc2005 said:
:banghead: :banghead:

Honestly, since when are Europeans and Canadian Juniors all of a sudden American citizens who can work as replacement workers under US immigration law?

replying to 3 different posts with the same exact line of reasoning doesnt all of a sudden make thier points invalid.

Ill try to play though

"Honestly, since when has immigration laws all of a sudden become the be all end all just because the NHL needs to employ replacement players? Are you telling me there is no way around this law?"

Hell Mr. Goodenow is\was a practising lawyer. And I Strongly believe the lack of use of this 'line of reasoning' when he uses every other chacne to slam the owners, is a strong indicator of just how much there is a chance of this law being enforce. And anyways, its a moot point if the Impasse ruling holds up in court. Then the players have to strike. But if the courts agree with the NHL's version of events [be it thru an impasse, or through attempting to get an open door to sign international replacement players] what grounds will the NHL Players have to strike? To Strike just because "we want to" wont earn them many friends with this "big business government"

in other words. This law isnt and has never been strictly upholded [over all work visa\immigration laws]. Why do some people all of a sudden think it will NOW?
 

Lil' Jimmy Norton*

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gc2005 said:
At the very start at least, you will not have any NHLPA players wanting to cross. That leaves 24 US teams dredging the bottom of the barrel for American replacement players. And that's assuming the mountain of legal problems dealing with impasse are somehow cleared. How anyone can be looking forward to this scenario is beyond me.

Really ???? see 1987 NFLPA. Scabs what scabs ? there are 350 PA'ers who went over and took jobs from guys playing in Europe. Guys going into the ECHL (Scott Gomez and Curtis Brown), guys going into the UHL ( Smolinski, Avery, Chelios and Hatcher)First PA'er to utter the word scab is going to have the entire world stomping his guts out. Plus none of them have the stones anyhow, look at them after their session yesterday...Bob is God...Bob is God..where is the Kool-Aid....repeat.
 

X8oD

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Chuck Shick said:
Really ???? see 1987 NFLPA. Scabs what scabs ? there are 350 PA'ers who went over and took jobs from guys playing in Europe. Guys going into the ECHL (Scott Gomez and Curtis Brown), guys going into the UHL ( Smolinski, Avery, Chelios and Hatcher)First PA'er to utter the word scab is going to have the entire world stomping his guts out. Plus none of them have the stones anyhow, look at them after their session yesterday...Bob is God...Bob is God..where is the Kool-Aid....repeat.

id be willing to bet at least 200 NHLers cross the line. They may mostly be third and fourth line guys, and some 1st liners in the late stage of thier carers. But, according to the NHLPA hardliners, even the 3rd and 4th liners are better than the "scabs" so they will improve the NHL should they go this route.

in the end, 3/4 of the NHLPA will cross. And the ones who dont will be the ones who look foolish.
 

Jag68Sid87

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Getting around the immigration laws doesn't sound nearly as impossible as the players forming their own league. I'd love to see Alexei Yashin holding out from, er, Alexei Yashin's team for more money. I think that has prime time sitcom material written all over it.
 

Seachd

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gc2005 said:
If they have a future in a normal NHL (i.e. Zach Parise, etc) they would definitely have to think twice about joining a scab league, for fear of future ramifications.

But how would Parise have a future in a "normal NHL"?
 

alecfromtherock

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Mountain Dude said:
Of course they will, they'll jump at the opportunity.

Add that on to the fact that they'll be players probably coming from Europe, and of course players from Junior ranks, it'll be damn good hockey. In 3-4 years it'll be right where it was in 2003-2004, or better.

By the 2009-2010 season(5 years) there will be 7 years of draft choices for all of the teams whom should be able to replace much of the current NHLers.

Hopefully they will open the game up and put some skill back into the game so that is will far succeed the 2003-2004 season in quality.

gc2005 said:
I see, so there's specialists out there that can help NHL teams clearly and knowingly break all know immigration laws? Huh? Kinda makes you wonder why all companies don't lock out their employees and bring in cheap Mexican labor as replacements, I mean if NHL teams have these so called experts lined up you'd think GM could hire a few.

I believe that hiring cheep illegal-immigrant Mexican workers is called a ‘WAL-MART’ and is already practised in the US.
 

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Franchises could choose to suspend operations if not enough US players are available.
 

nyr7andcounting

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Gee Wally said:
while it's true that a player simply can't show -up...absolutely..

but getting a visa or working papers isn't an impossibility..also don't forget any population that may have an American wife or child ...

You may see a whole lot of weddings this summer.

I don't believe visa or work visas can be issued during a work stoppage.
 

Wetcoaster

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Mountain Dude said:
I'm sure the lawyers working for the NHL making millions of dollars a year will be able to get passed that problem rather quickly.
No they cannot. It is a statutory bar.

So unless the NHL can get Congress to pass an amendment to US immigration law there is no way around this. Given that Congress could not get together enough to pass laws during the 1994 MLB strike for "America's Pastime" - what are the chances the NHL will be able to get Conress to move?

Same law applies in Canada.
 

FlyersGuy69

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the NHL wants to have a draft this year, so won't them players drafted be expected to play in the NHL. they will obviously be under a new agreement, correct?

with that, all of the junior players that haven't signed NHL deals would be expected to play.
 
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